Canadian, Vancouver-based clarinettist-composer François Houle (head of the Afterday Audio label) and German, Viennese pianist-composer Georg Graewe (head of the Random Acoustics label) first met in the early 1990s at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and have collaborated sporadically ever since. They recorded their first collaborative album almost thirty years ago, Live @ Banlieues Bleues (Red Toucan, 1996, with French double bass master Joëlle Léandre).
music for clarinet and piano was recorded in Vienna in May 2023 and features ten pieces credited to Houle and Graewe. Listening back to the recording, Graewe realised it reflected his fascination with the pièce caractéristique, a favourite genre among German pianists-composers since the 17th century, and used for
